Hijacked
by Falcon-Prey
Summary: Jack must trust an old advisary after two members of his team are taken hostage in a hijacking.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, thanks to Stargatefangurl (aka Lhinneill), who has graciously volunteered to beta this for me, Hijacked now has a destination instead of my random wanderings. I'm extremely sorry for the long wait between chapters, but I hope to be able to move along much quicker now that I have someone to help me. Here's the new and improved first chapter.

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"You didn't have to come you know."

Startled by the voice of her friend and teammate, Sam nearly dropped the _National Geographic_ magazine she'd been reading. "What?"

Daniel lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I mean...I'm sure you have projects waiting for you in your lab..." His voice trailed off and he shrugged again, pushing his glasses further up on his nose.

"Daniel..." Sam repressed a sigh. This was the second time Daniel had brought the subject up. "I'm here, I want to be here. Besides...Colonel O'Neill practically ordered me off the base."

"Ah! So now the truth comes out." Daniel teased. Rolling her eyes, she resisted the urge to jab him in the ribs and instead reached into her bag to pull out one of the thick books she'd packed. The flight was going to be a long one; she'd have plenty of time to read.

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Jack reached for the bottle on the dock near his chair, lifting it to take a long drink of the rapidly warming beer before setting it back in its place on the water stained wood. It was a beautiful morning, the birds were out in full force, twittering from the tops of evergreens; he'd also seen a couple deer getting a drink on the far side of the pond, likely a doe and her fawns. They had stayed mostly hidden in the thick underbrush.

He was glad he'd come up here for his vacation time instead of staying back at his home in Colorado. It was nice, peaceful and though there were no fish, he still could enjoy just...fishing... The only thing missing was some people here to share it with. But, as usual, none of his team had volunteered to come along. Sam and Daniel had headed for Egypt, supposedly for some archaeology conference thing. Jack had a sneaking suspicion Daniel planned to do more than just attend a conference, though. The man probably had several dig site visits planned.

As for Teal'c...well...Jack didn't envy him. The Jaffa was stuck with babysitting duty alongside SG-3. Jack wasn't sure why Hammond had sent his friend along on the mission, but whatever the reason, it had to be a good one.

RING!

The shrill tone of Jack's cell phone sliced through the silence. Jack muttered a curse, dug into his pocket for the slim flip phone, and resisted the urge to throw it in the pond.

"O'Neill," Jack said, switching hands on the phone so he could reach for his beer.

"Hey Jack, how's your vacation?"

Maybourne. All thoughts of beer instantly vanished. "It was going pretty good before you called," Jack growled, the urge to toss the phone in the pond returning in full force. "What the hell do you want?"

He was expecting some sarcastic comment, but to his surprise, Maybourne cut straight to the point. "I caught wind of some big operation I thought you might find interesting."

"I'm touched."

There was an audible sigh on the either end of the line. "Come on Jack, you can trust me."

"Maybourne, _trust_ has never been a word I'd associate with you or your people."

"Look, I just thought you'd want to know that your team's in danger. Apparently I was—"

"What?" Jack sat up abruptly, nearly kicking the bottle of beer into the water.

"You heard me Jack," Maybourne said, his tone low and serious. "Major Carter and Doctor Jackson are in danger."

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I hope to have the rewritten chapter 2 updated sometime early next week.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, here it is...the second rewritten chapter of Hijacked. (if you've just started reading this, chapter 3 will seem out of place after this) It's shorter than I would like and also took far longer than I'd planned. But, I hope you like it and it was worth it all.

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Jack's grip tightened on his cell phone, torn between trusting Maybourne and taking a chance with the lives of his team. No doubt understanding Jack's unease, Maybourne continued. "My information says these guys need somebody to translate some device, and they need somebody to make it work."

The pieces clicked together. "Daniel and Carter."

"Exactly. Now, I don't know what these people need translated, but I'm willing to bet it's big, Jack."

Another piece of the puzzle appeared, crystal clear in Jack's mind. "Of course it is. Big enough to risk my team isn't it, Maybourne." Jack's voice was bitter, strained with concern for two of his friends who could be in danger. Jack still wasn't sure he wanted to trust the shifty ex-NID agent.

"Aw, come on Jack. I don't want to see your team hurt anymore than you do."

Jack scoffed lightly, shaking his head. _Yeah, sure. Just as long as you get paid._ "Cut the crap, Maybourne. What do you want?"

Silence. Then, "I want to help, Jack."

Sighing, Jack bit back the urge to snap at the man again. Like it or not, Maybourne had been right in the past. And right now, Jack couldn't risk the lives of his teammates out of petty distrust. Okay, maybe his distrust had been earned, but nevertheless...Maybourne had something he needed desperately—information.

"I'm listening."

Without hesitation, Maybourne plunged forward. He held Jack's attention and he knew it. "Two days ago, my source picked up a communication from...well, from a certain high-ranking official to some low life in the African desert. Apparently this guy found something, something really important. Well, this high-ranking—"

"Maybourne," Jack snapped. "Who is this 'certain high-ranking' so and so?"

"I'll give you one guess."

Realization struck. "Kinsey."

"Right. Now...where was I? Oh, yeah... These guys—I think they're working for him, Kinsey—say they found something. And it's not exactly from around here either. But they can't figure it out, they need somebody to help them make it work, to figure out what it does when it is working too."

_Daniel and Carter_... Jack rubbed his free hand over his face and through his hair. "So...they're going to...what?"

"Don't be dense, Jack. They're going to take what they need, that's what."

A scenario ran through Jack's mind: they would likely attack the two unsuspecting geeks after they landed. At the hotel, maybe. Or at a dig, somewhere open, empty and...

A droning noise continued in his ear. It only distracted Jack slightly as his mind bounded through the possible dangers his team could be facing. Then he realized—Maybourne hadn't stopped talking. "...that's why we have to hurry, Jack."

"What?"

"The plane. Once they get the plane they could go anywhere, Jack."

Jack's thoughts stuttered to a halt. Though he didn't mean to parrot the man on the other end of the line, he found himself saying "Plane?" as his mind darted off to one other possibility he really didn't want to think about.

"Yes, Jack. The plane. They're going to hijack the plane."

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Sam woke with a start, nearly dropping the book she still held. How long had she been asleep? She glanced at Daniel, noting that he too had drifted off sometime during the flight. His magazine was crumpled beneath his hands and she reached to pull it free, smoothing the cover before stowing it in his soft-sided briefcase. After a quick look around the cabin of the plane, she realized that he wasn't the only one happily sleeping though the flight.

The atmosphere in the plane was peaceful and quiet except for the ever-present hum of the engines. That being the case...what had woke her?

Sam glanced around the cabin, unconsciously slipping into military mode. No one was up and moving around except for the flight attendant moving slowly up the aisle. A shiver traveled up Sam's spine and she grit her teeth. Something was _definitely_ wrong. Her instincts were screaming at her, warning her of some impending danger.

"Is there a problem, ma'am?" The flight attendant, suddenly standing by Sam, asked.

Was there a problem? "No..." Sam said slowly then forced a smile. "Everything's fine."

The attendant didn't look completely convinced, but nodded and moved down the aisle again. Sam noticed her glancing back once as she paused to tuck a blanket around a sleeping toddler.

But Sam couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. And one of the lessons she'd learned during her years of service—one of the most important—was never to doubt her instincts.

"Daniel," She whispered. When he didn't respond, she reached for his shoulder and shook him slightly. "Daniel, wake up." He jerked, mumbled something and opened his eyes a bit. Sam gave him another shake.

"Wha—what?" His eyes, bleary with sleep, opened and he blinked.

"Something's wrong."

Scooting up in his seat, Daniel rubbed his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand before looking around the cabin. "What?" He repeated the question, not seeing anything and too sleepy to fully sense what Sam did.

"I don't know. I just..." _I can't ignore my instincts._ The phrase went unspoken, but her teammate seemed to understand. "I'm going to go have a look around. It may be nothing."

Daniel gave her a nod, still trying to shake the fog of sleep from his brain. "Okay. I'll...uh...be here."


End file.
